CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#regexsplit
HelloAmigo
HelloAmigo

Reputation: 55

Regex split whilst keeping the deliminator c#

I have a string like such: "07/04/2017 16:09:03 by Joe Bloggs) Added 07/04/2017 17:03:04 by Joe Bloggs) Updated"

I'd like to split the string into a list of comments. The string example above contains two separate comments that I'd like to split into a list. I've identified that each new comment starts with a date. So for each date, id like to split the string.

I have attempted to use the following Regex pattern '\d{1,2}\/\d{1,2}\/\d{4}' which detects the date.

var sqlComments = "07/04/2017 16:09:03 by Joe Bloggs) Added 07/04/2017 17:03:04 by Joe Bloggs) Updated"
var comments = Regex.Split(sqlComments, RegexDateIdentifier);
return comments.Where(c => c != string.Empty).ToList();

However the code above, splits the string as I'd like, but removes the date. So I am left with like;

  1. 16:09:03 by Joe Bloggs) Added
  2. 17:03:04 by Joe Bloggs) Updated

Can anyone advise how to perform the above but with keeping the date (the deliminator)?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 45

Answers (1)

Martin Brown
Martin Brown

Reputation: 25330

This should do what you are after, it uses a Zero-Width Positive Lookahead Assertion plus a \s+ to remove the spaces:

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string RegexDateIdentifier = @"\s+(?=\d{1,2}\/\d{1,2}\/\d{4})";
        var sqlComments = "07/04/2017 16:09:03 by Joe Bloggs) Added 07/04/2017 17:03:04 by Joe Bloggs) Updated";
        var comments = Regex.Split(sqlComments, RegexDateIdentifier);
        var list = comments.ToList();

        foreach (var s in list)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("|{0}|", s);
        }
    }

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions